What does Apex Legends’ sudden popularity really mean?

Apex Legends has certainly come out of nowhere to seemingly snatch the battle royale crown from Epic’s Fortnite, but is that really the case? And, if so, what does that mean?

Well, the jury is still out on whether Fortnite has fallen, but the word is definite that the barbarians are at the gates. That’s a pretty quick reversal of fortune for a game that itself displaced the populariser of the genre, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Being totally real, too, Fortnite has a lot of detractors – particularly among so-called “hardcore” gamers. Why?

Some people don’t like its graphics, some people find its gameplay weird, and even others just hate popular things in order to be edgy.

Is Apex Legends displacing Fortnite?

That said, Apex Legends is a really, really awesome game by all reports. More than that, it does a lot to address the “hardcore” concerns some people have bandied about with regard to Fortnite. So, either Apex Legends met some latent demand in the battle royale market or it is truly displacing Fortnite by stealing its own players.

One highlight that is being lost in all of the noise about Apex Legends displacing Fortnite, however, is the fact that the battle royale genre is starting to mature and show evidence of rapid cycling. What does that mean?

It means that the genre is no longer new or novel and, in fact, new games in the genre have to go to great lengths to distinguish themselves from others that are out there. This results in increasingly weird iterations on the core concept which also leads to a dilution of the genre. It might even lead to it being “played out” in the long run. For great examples of this, look no further than MMORPGs and World of Warcraft’s staying power or the collapse of the MOBA genre.

These genres commanded tons of players, made bundles of money, and had more competitors released on a per annum basis than many of us care to admit. Yet most all of those competitors have disappeared and the mainstays have lingered, if not thrived.

Apex Legends evidence of the battle royale genre coming into maturity

All of that is to say, are we witnessing the same happen to battle royale games? That is almost certain, and Apex Legends sudden rise is evidence of that. It also makes Epic’s pivot to becoming a Steam competitor that much more farsighted looking back. Capitalising on a trend that they knew wouldn’t last forever, Epic is hoping to transform Fortnite’s “fleeting” popularity into a business-sustaining platform through other services.

Naturally, everything remains to be seen, but it is interesting to think that Apex Legends is evidence of a genre coming into its maturity more than anything else. Maybe it will succeed and overtake Fortnite to become a pillar of gaming as we know it, or it could end up like so many other competitors and fall by the wayside as the popular stalwarts retrench their positions. It’s definitely a good time to be a battle royale fan, though, that much we can’t deny.